Jeanette Brooks

Jeanette has 17 years of dance experience as a choreographer, artistic director, performer and teacher. As a versatile performer she has worked with Afro-Caribbean Irie! Dance Theatre, Bullies Ballerinas, and Phoenix Dance Theatre. Jeanette has also worked in physical theatre with the Charnock Company and musical theatre with Paul Henry and Stewart Arnold.

Jeanette recently choreographed for The Friendly Bombs (a group of adults with learning difficulties), the London Studio Centre, and has toured her work as part of the ADAD tour of black choreographers in 1999. Jeanette was also education manager at Adzido and is currently the education officer of UrbanClassicism and artistic director of Dance Movement.

“This wonderful initiative has allowed me to research my movement vocabulary. I am excited about the opportunity of looking at the convergence of movement origins found in jazz, African and street dance forms, and exploring how that affects me as a contemporary dance tutor and choreographer.”

Flavia Chevez-Le Messurier

Flavia; a native of Lima, Peru; was a member of Teatros y Danzas Negros del Peru and the Conjunto Nacional de Folklor, both of which were directed by the renowned black choreographer and researcher, Victoria Santa Cruz Gamarra, and which performed all over Latin America, USA and Europe. Since moving to London she has participated in several Latin American folkloric dance groups and conducted workshops in Europe. In the last two years she has led her own group which has performed at the Wandsworth Arts Festival and at the Africa Conference at Leeds University, and has also given lecture/demonstrations at Surrey University and the Latin American Institute at London University.

“I am very grateful to ADAD and Dance UK for giving me the opportunity of developing my dance activities and creating new contacts, enabling me to share my knowledge and culture, and also to learn from others.”

Maria Ghoumrassi

Maria Ghoumrassi is a graduate from Laban, and trained with various Portuguese and international artists at the Rui Horta Dance School and Forum Danca, Portugal. She has worked with Backstage Company, Seven Sisters Group and most recently in the original cast of The Lion King, London, as a dancer and dance captain. She has toured and presented her work internationally including the Cape Verde Islands, France and Holland, and appeared in a variety of programmes on RTP and BBC.

Maria is interested in intercultural performance and education as a way of developing cultural awareness through the use and exploration of performance techniques from around the world in dance, music, drama, video, etc. She presently works as a freelance teacher and choreographer. Her current project Mortar and Pestle was short-listed for the Place Prize. She will be presenting her new solo Salt Woman, as part of Dance Beats.

“This fellowship is a unique and valuable opportunity for me to develop the skills to sell my work and represent my vision as an artist, by making contacts and building relationships with other artists, promoters and venues as well as working with leading practitioners as mentors.”

Leo Kay

Leo has performed nationally and internationally with Kaos physical Theatre from 1995 - 1999. Since 1999 he has collaborated, either as director, choreographer, facilitator or performer for, amongst others, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Eugene Skeef, Capoeira Norte and Urban Expansions, Contact Theatre, the Green Rooms, Robert Hylton, The National Theatre, Gisela Rocha Cia, Ron Bunzl, and H2Dance.

In 2000/2001 Leo ran extended workshops for theatres, theatre companies and dance companies in Salvador Brazil. He has produced his own solo show A Geographic, supported by Weekend Arts College, Oval House Theatre and London Arts. His physical style fuses the control and playfulness found in Capoeira and body popping with his knowledge of physical/dance theatre and passion for physical, vocal and visual experiment.

“I am very excited and grateful for both the financial and educational support of the Trailblazers fellowship, helping to bring to fruition the vision that I have for the creation of powerful, political, dynamic and transformative dance theatre.”